Having focused their efforts on smaller groups and watched, with delight, as knowledge of The Way began to spread rapidly through their supporters, Jesus and his sisters found their sprits much lightened.

With his strength and focus renewed, Jesus spent more and more time telling stories among the people and listening eagerly to theirs.

As Ruth and Tabitha watched him milling among their supporters, they shook their heads.

“He looks so at home among them,” Tabitha said.

Ruth smiled. “It is as if he were born to this moment.”

As they were saying these things, a ruckus erupted behind them. They turned just as a band of men catapulted toward them wielding scythes.

“There he is! That is the heretic!” the man leading the group roared. Gigantic in size, he wielded a blade in one hand and knocked people to the ground with the other.

Seeing the furious attack, Jesus’s supporters rushed from every direction to form a shield around him. The assailants were forced to a halt at the ragged wall of people.

“Let us through!” they bellowed.

The supporters held their ground.

“You are harboring a heathen! A man who speaks against God!” they cried. They swiped at the crowd with threats and knives, but the people dodged the attacks and held their ground.

“May you all perish in everlasting fire!” one of the men raged.

“God will see that you suffer!” another said.

Recalling the violent scene he had witnessed in Jerusalem, Jesus tugged at the people standing before him, straining to push them to safety. “Leave here! Save yourselves!” he cried out. But his words could not be heard above the din.

As the number of supporters swelled, the attackers began to drift away from Jesus. Though armed, they were badly outnumbered. When the growing mass began to circle behind them, the assailants turned in retreat.

“We will be back!” they threatened as they fled. “God will not stand for such abomination near His Temple!”

When they had departed, Jesus’s followers returned to their tasks as if nothing had happened. It was not the first time their group had been harassed—every village harbored those who defended the male divinity.

Still, this latest attack was certainly the most vicious.

Ruth looked over to where Jesus stood. He avoided her eyes, making an obvious effort to appear unaffected. Only his clenched fists gave him away.

Squinting into the distance, to where dust rose from the departing men’s feet, Ruth wondered how much longer the sheer number of their supporters would be able to protect them. And keep Jesus from harm.

Toward the end of the day, when the shadows of the rushes grew long across the river, Jesus and his sisters took a short walk to clear their heads. As they went, they came upon a young boy crying near the shore. Jesus stopped and knelt. “Why do you cry?” he asked. A crowd soon gathered around them.